Looting The Treasury

Hundreds of residents of one of the poorest municipalities in Los Angeles County shouted in protest last night as tensions rose over a report that the city’s manager earns an annual salary of almost $800,000.

An overflow crowd packed a City Council meeting in Bell, a mostly Hispanic city of 38,000 about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, to call for the resignation of Mayor Oscar Hernandez and other city officials. Residents left standing outside the chamber banged on the doors and shouted “fuera,” or “get out” in Spanish.

It was the first council meeting since the Los Angeles Times reported July 15 that Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns $787,637 — with annual 12 percent raises — and that Bell pays its police chief $457,000, more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck makes in a city of 3.8 million people. Bell council members earn almost $100,000 for part-time work.

City Attorney Edward Lee said the council members couldn’t discuss salaries in public without advance notice. The council then adjourned for a private session. About an hour later, the council members returned, and Hernandez read a statement saying the city would prepare a report on the salaries and seek public comment at the next council meeting, scheduled for Aug. 16.

All – literally every, single one of these politicians should get a nice new pair of bracelets and a long, long stay in some nice Federal (or state) “spa”.

That city has nearly tripled its per capita debt in six years – wanna bet that time frame closely mirrors the politician’s increased pay?

Frankly, if I was a resident of that municipality, I’d be pretty inclined to buy a barrel of tar and a whole lot of feathers – as a sort of send off gift.

4 Responses to Looting The Treasury

A Seattle TV station has been running stories on State bureaucrats retiring, then being rehired for their old jobs. So they get full pensions plus full salaries. Cute, eh?
I doubt that this ripoff is original to Washington State.

If you’ve ever spent any time in Bell, California, you might agree that city officials there labor under a rather adverse set of conditions, and may thus deserve a little something extra in their pay packages. But, nowhere near the exorbitant numbers reported in the article.

My guess is that given a chance to decide, the residents of Bell might like to impose a pay cut in the neighborhood of about 75% across the board.